


Home Scent

by la_muerta



Series: Sensorium [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Universe, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fic Battle, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e02 The Powers that Be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 08:58:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14209671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta
Summary: Fresh sheets at Magnus' place always leave Alec unsettled.





	Home Scent

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 of a ficlet battle between [irisadler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisadler/pseuds/irisadler) and I where we prompt each other with one or more senses and write a fluffy or smutty ficlet (1,000 words or less) based on the prompt. 
> 
> My prompt was: smell.

 

Magnus might enjoy taking showers without magic, but he certainly does not enjoy doing the laundry without it. Which is why fresh sheets at Magnus' place always leave Alec slightly unsettled - they don't smell of anything. Not laundry detergent, not the familiar smell of Magnus' sandalwood shampoo, not the mingled scents of their bodies lingering tangled in the sheets the way their bodies had been the night before. Not even of wardrobes and mothballs, or the burnt sugar smell of Magnus' magic that throws Alec off a little every time his patrol route takes him past a bakery or waffle house - which is odd, since the sheets were cleaned by magic. 

Maybe if his nose were keener, like a werewolf's, there'd be something else - Alec wonders if silk has a smell, or maybe the dye that gives the sheets their vibrant red, their lustrous gold. But Alec is not a wolf, so that's that. 

So whenever Magnus changes the sheets, Alec doesn't go to bed until Magnus is ready for bed as well. Even if he's spent the day thrashing/getting thrashed by Jace during training, even if he's had to go through mountains of paperwork until his head aches, or has had another frustrating meeting involving Clave bigotry, Seelie trickery, warlock politics, werewolf territorial disputes, or rogue fledgling vampires (or, in one horrifically memorable incident, all of the above). Alec would rather sit on the couch in front of the TV nodding off while he waits for Magnus to finish whatever he's working on, than go to sleep in the strange bed that smells of nothing. 

Magnus picks up on it of course, and the next time Alec falls asleep sitting up in front of the TV while Magnus is busy in his apothecary, Magnus shakes him awake gently at two in the morning with a wry smile on his face. 

"I have a perfectly serviceable bed, you know. Is there something wrong with the new sheets?" 

"No, it's not the sheets - well, it _is_ the sheets. But it's just... they don't smell like you when they're fresh. I feel weird sleeping there."  

"Your sheets in the Institute don't smell like me either," Magnus points out. 

"Yeah, no. They smell like cheap soap and dust. But they've always smelled that way you see, since I was a kid," Alec shrugs. "Yours should smell like you. Like _us_."

Magnus grins, eyes twinkling, and reaches out a hand to Alec to help him up. "Care to help me make them smell like us again?" 


End file.
